Parashat Vayigash - Encountering our duality (5 min read)

     

רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah

     To begin with, I do hope that during this Hanukkah season you were able to find light during a week that was filled with deadly hate crimes against Jews, and this past Sunday against Christian’s as well.  As we enter 2020 it's tough to swallow that such hate continues right in our back yard (yep here in Los Angeles we have experienced our share), but if anything, we are reminded that even in days of hate our light in this world makes more of an impact that we may think.
     We saw that last week with the horrible acts that the sons of Jacob did against their brother Joseph when they let him be sold into slavery as well as their father who they led to believe that his son was killed by wild animals.  I had suggested that Joseph would learn a lesson despite what happened about being the right type of ruler, thus his dreams were not about ruling over his family with an authoritative hand, but using his power to serve them for their betterment.  That is the power of our light in days of darkness, standing upon the foundation of love and relationships as we make our mark known with those who we encounter.  As such, we will further see how Joseph’s light over the darkness of anger and revenge is a large part of this week’s reading, Parashat Vayigash from Genesis 44:18-47:27, as we further encounter Jacob and his family.
     Although also from last week, we read that Pharaoh selected Joseph to be the overseer of Egypt, only accountable to Pharaoh himself.  And for a little humor, the Pharaoh also gave Joseph the daughter of Potiphar (that is right the same Potiphar who had Joseph thrown into Jail) as a wife and the mother of his children; you can only imagine their family dinners!  Yet, Pharaoh did one other thing, he charged Joseph’s name to “Tzaf’nat Pha’naiach,” or one who “reveals things that are hidden and easily reveals them” (per Gen. R. 90:4); this can also be understood to be an expansion of his Hebrew name, Joseph, which means to “increase.”  Joseph would certainly “increase” the welfare of the people as well as the riches and power of Egypt.  However, there is also a noted difference.  I am not convinced that the power of Joseph’s God that helped to interpret Pharaoh’s dream's had anything to do with the name change to Tzaf’nat Pha’naiach, with Rashi understanding the name to mean the “decipher of the cryptic” (per to ArtScroll). 
     A person who is a “decipher of the cryptic” can do so through various means, and while Egypt had its own sense of the spiritual, it was not monolithic and therefore highly unlikely to ascribe everything to one particular god and/or philosophy.  We therefore mentioned last week that Tzaf’nat Pha’naiach, based on Pharaoh’s dreams (effectively deciphering of the cryptic), used his business aptitude to devise a plan that when the famine came people from everywhere would come to Egypt to buy grain that was stored for the future from the earlier abundance.  But the Hebrew Joseph was a man who was hurt based on the naming of his children, emotional at the sight of his brothers, and in the end generous with his power even though his humanity was at war with itself.  The Hebrew Joseph was also a man who would have called on God for the wisdom required to do his job in Egypt just as he called on God to help interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.  Yes, Joseph was stately with his brothers and used the power of his office to manipulate them, but not for their harm.  In essence, Joseph was a man of two masks, one given and learned whereas the other was innate and nurtured.  The given is learned but the innate is molded by both genetic design and life itself, although it is also has an inner voice that one chooses how to respond to.  Can we say this of Joseph?  Well, given the fact that he did not use his power to punish his brothers but wanted to take care of them as family instead, yeah I think we can say that about Joseph.  In the end Joseph responded to his innate inner voice that would be more robust than the learned given power of Tzaf’nat Pha’naiach; hence the former would help to frame and characterize the latter.
      This week Joseph continues to respond in kind to his brothers (cf. Gen. 45:3).  In this case, however, Joseph is no longer able to hide behind what his brothers did not know and finally reveals his true identity.  Regarding the revelation of Joseph's identity, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik wrote that Judah, the son of Leah, was gevurah (strength) whereas Joseph, the son of Rachel, was chesed (loving kindness).  Here since this is how “the Almighty” ordained how it would be, gevurah would rule over chesed, thus for Soloveitchik Joseph gave up his power to Judah as predetermined when he let his brothers know who he really was.  This was also interestingly picked up by Mark A. O’Brie who in 1997 wrote an article in the The Catholic Biblical Quarterly suggesting that Joseph was out-done by the wisdom of his brother Judah, who as a foreigner, influenced (and maneuvered) the consciousness of a powerful leader of Egypt.  However, looking at Rashi and Sforno we find another story. Remember, two times previously Joseph was taken over by his own emotions at seeing his brothers despite the previous 22 years (cf. Gen. 42:24 and 43:30).  This time when he shows his emotions outwardly as he reveals himself to his brothers, there is no indication that they responded any other way than what we read in the  Torah, thus when first confronted with Joseph’s identity they become, נבהלו מפניו, “alarmed before him” (Gen. 45:3).  In the case of Rashi, they reacted that way because they were humiliated, Sforno adding that the humiliation was not because of fear but for the shame of what they did.  Rashi goes on to say that Joseph knew, based on how his brothers reacted, that since his “brothers feel ashamed” he spoke to them “with a gentile language, and supplication.”  For Sforno's part, he further comments that while Joseph at first says his brothers "sold" him, in the end recognized that instead they "sent" him so he could embrace his family during their time of need.  Joseph as he healed came to a place that allowed him to see his part in the bigger picture; certainly not a power that he gave away but one that he claimed for himself that could not be taken. Soloveitchik is right that Joseph did give up his power, but he gave up his given power to let his innate humanity be vulnerable and loving toward his family, which is another type of power all together.
     Now, there is truth as well to the other way on some level, meaning that Joseph did relinquish his power given the confusion of the situation.  In this case, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg correctly notes that Joseph can no longer “control [his] self-contained, observatory power, that has informed his actions till now [so in that moment he] shrivels in the heat of a different way of seeing [things].”  Sure Judah had influence on Joseph, that is the nature of relationships, but in the end Joseph got to decide how he wanted to respond with the power that he had.  The mask of his given power could not run away from the innate person he was, and that person loved his family and wanted to improve the lives of others.  This parasha ends with Jacob and his entire clan coming down from Canaan and moving into the Goshen section of Egypt where they are blessed with peace and abundance.  This however does not end the story of Joseph and his brothers by a long shot, something that we will return to next week.

Shabbat Shalom!